I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. And I'm just going to deal with
two verses here and then go through some other passages that relate
to this message entitled, A Primer for Christian Obedience. A Primer
for Christian Obedience. Of course, some of the younger
folks might not know what a primary is, but that's a book that basically,
or a pamphlet that basically goes back to the fundamentals,
the very basics of an issue, the ABCs, one, two, three, that
kind of thing. And that's what I want to deal
with, a primer, the very fundamentals, the very basics, the simplest
way that we can look at scripture on this issue of Christian obedience. And look at Romans chapter 12.
Let me just read the first two verses here. Paul writes, I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies, and that's your whole person there, a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable under God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. Now, when we think about obedience
or the word obey, the word translated obey, for example, in the Old
Testament literally means to hear, to hear something. And we know that it's talking
about more than just the audible sounds. For example, if you have
children and you're trying to instruct them or correct them,
sometimes you might, in a stern voice, say, do you hear what
I'm saying? And if they don't obey you, you
think, well, they didn't really hear what I was saying. And that's
the way it is in the word hear in the Old Testament. It's not
just to hear the sound thereof, but it is a hearing that translates
into obedience. In the New Testament, the word
that's translated or describes obedience, there's several words
actually, but one means to hear or listen in a state of submission. In other words, whatever God
says, I not only hear it audibly, but I submit to it. When we think
about submission, we think about, for example, the gospel command,
where it talks about how God saves sinners. and the command
of the gospel is to submit to God's ways, forsake your own
way, whatever way that is, or however good it may sound to
you, because the natural man, the unbelieving person, who's
not been born again, hasn't been given ears to hear, and anything
sounds good if it's religious or moral or zealous or sincere,
things like that, or what men by nature judge as moral and
dedicated So the gospel command is for you to hear the word of
God. How many times when Christ taught his disciples, he made
this statement, he said, if you have ears to hear, hear it. And
that's what he's talking about. He's talking about obedience.
The gospel commands you and me to submit to God's way of salvation. And God's way is the way of salvation
by grace, not by works. We'll see that in just a moment.
God, for example, in Romans chapter 9 and 10, at the end of Romans
chapter 9, he speaks of the lost religious unbelieving Jews who
were trying to make themselves righteous by their works of the
law, by obedience, their obedience. They were trying to work their
way to be righteous. And they thought, well, if I
do enough good works under the law, if I do enough, uh, uh,
uh, show enough dedication under the law, then I can make myself
acceptable unto God by my works. And the Romans chapter nine,
verses 31 onto the end of the chapter says that they didn't
make it. They didn't attain what they were seeking for. They were
seeking salvation by works. They were seeking righteousness
and holiness and acceptance with God by their works, but they
didn't make it. Why? Because they didn't seek
it by faith, as it were, but by works of the law. Well, what
is it to seek righteousness by faith? Here's one of Satan's
greatest subtleties now. This is where so many people
are confused today about this issue of faith. To seek righteousness
by faith, is not to seek righteousness by my believing. As if to say,
well, I'm a sinner and God feels sorry for me and he knows I can't
keep the law, therefore he'll accept something less as righteousness
and we'll call it faith. No, that's not what it's talking
about. And he goes on in the first verses of Romans chapter
10, And he tells us what it is. In fact, let's look there, and
I'll tell you why this is important, because in Romans chapter 12
and verse one, he says, I beseech you, therefore. That word therefore
is a big word here. One old preacher said, if you
see a therefore in the Bible, find out what it's there for.
Well, therefore refers to everything that Paul had stated about salvation
up to Romans 12. And it says there in Romans 10,
look at Romans 10 in verse 1. He said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. They're looking for salvation. They're looking for righteousness.
They're looking for acceptance, but they didn't find it. Why?
Because they sought it by their works. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God. They're sincere and zealous,
but not according to knowledge. Well, what knowledge are they
missing? Verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness.
That's God's justice. It's what God requires. If you
think, if somebody would come in and tell you now, here's what
God requires from you to be saved. You've got to jump up three times
and clap your hands four times. What would you do? Well, if you
believed him, if you heard him and you jump up three times and
you clap your hands four times, now I'm saved. Well, is that
what God requires? Well, if you say yes, then you're
ignorant of God's righteousness. You see that? If you say, God
requires me to do this, or God requires me to do that, or God
requires me to join a church, or get baptized, or confess my
sins. And listen to me now. Think about
this. There are some of those things
that God does require. But what's Paul talking about
here by inspiration? He's talking about what God requires
for salvation. His heart's desire and prayer
for Israel is that they be saved. God requires obedience. We're
gonna talk about that. But here's what he's talking
about. What does God require for me, a sinner, to be saved? A sinner who deserves death.
A sinner who is unworthy. And cannot earn my, what does
God require? Well, they were ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
and they have not what? Submitted. Now this thing about
obedience and hearing means to submit. Well, they have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. What does God require? He requires the righteousness
of God. What is that? Can you define for me the righteousness
of God? Well, the next verse defines
it for you. Look at verse four. It says, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ
is the end, that word end there. You remember if you've read the
book of John, in John chapter 19, There's a verse in there,
I think it's verse 30, but I'm not sure. I'd have to go back
and look it up. But Christ on the cross, he made this statement. He said, it is finished. What
was he talking about? His work on the cross, his obedience
unto death. It's finished. He had completed
it. That's what it means. He accomplished what he set out
to do. And that word finish there is the same word there in Romans
chapter 10 that's translated end. Christ is the end of the
law. He's the finishing of it. He
accomplished it. What did he accomplish? He put
away the sins of his people and he brought in righteousness for
his people. And who are his people? He says
it to everyone that believeth. Believeth what? believeth that
Christ finished the work. Christ did everything. Listen
to me. Here's what he's talking about.
God's requirement. What does God require of me to
be saved? He requires righteousness. I
don't have it and I can't produce it. So what do I do? I look to
Christ who had it and produced it. He is my righteousness. Now go back to Romans 12. That's
what the therefore is there for. Let me give you these three things
about Christian obedience. A primer for Christian, you know,
we talk about primers, we talk about ABCs, one, two, everything
comes in threes, right? So I got three here. And let
me just tell you what it is, all right? These three phrases
will give you the whole primer of Christian obedience. Number
one is the phrase founded upon. Founded upon. What is Christian
obedience founded upon? Well, what are we talking about?
Well, obviously we're talking about the foundation of Christian obedience. Founded
upon. Number two is motivated by. Motivated by. Now what are we
talking about? We're talking about the inspiration
for Christian obedience. And then number three is aimed
towards. What are we talking about there?
We're talking about the aspiration of Christian obedience, the goal
of Christian obedience. So it's founded upon, it's motivated
by, it's aimed towards. Now, number one, founded upon. What is Christian obedience?
Christian obedience is different from other types of obedience.
Now, let me tell you, a person can be a fine, upstanding citizen
and drive the speed limit, for example. avoid the crimes of
society and do their civic duty. They can do all that. They can
be moral people, such as upstanding fathers and mothers, husbands,
wives, all of that. Students in school, you students,
you can be good students, study hard, make good, and that's all
obedience, isn't it? That's obedience. But is it Christian
obedience? There's a difference now. Because
Christian obedience is founded upon something specific. It's
motivated by something specific. And it's aimed towards something
specific. So what is this? All right, number
one, founded upon. That's encompassed in Romans
12 and verse one in that word therefore. Everything that Paul
had written from Romans chapter one all the way up to the end
of Romans chapter 11 is just a simple message given in different
ways of how God saves sinners. How God saves sinners. And it's
by grace. That's what he's telling them.
In fact, over in Romans chapter 11 and verse 5, he talks about
a remnant, a small piece of people. That's what he's talking about.
that are according to the election of grace. And in verse six, he
says this, and if it's by grace, he says, then it's no more of
works. Salvation cannot be by the works
of a center. It cannot be conditioned on the
center. because sinners are sinners. God will not save you, he will
not keep you, he will not bless you, and he will not bring you
into glory because you're better than other sinners. And if you believe that salvation
is conditioned on you or based upon what you do or what you
decide or what you will, then you have to believe at some point
in time that your salvation is based upon the fact that you're
better than other sinners in some way to some degree, however
little that degree is. But do you notice back here in
Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, he says, I beseech you therefore
by the mercies of God. There's mercy. Grace and mercy. These are the issues of the fundamentals
of Christian obedience. Fundamentals of salvation. Grace
and mercy. Now it's the nature of grace
and mercy that neither one of those things can be deserved.
If you're a recipient of the mercy of God, it's because you
don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. If you
deserve it, it's not mercy. If somebody gives you what you
deserve, they're not being merciful to you, they're just being just.
You go out and you work a hard day, and your employer gives
you a paycheck, or you sell something that you've worked hard for,
and they give you a paycheck. They don't write on that check,
this is mercy towards you. I'm just gonna be merciful and
give you what you earned yesterday. No, that's a contradiction, you
see. If salvation is something that
God pays you for in any way or shape or fashion based upon what
you've done, what you try to do, or what you decide to do,
it's not mercy. That's what I'm telling you.
Now grace, what about grace? Well, grace is something you
can't earn. You can't earn it. If you've earned it, it's not
grace. So grace and mercy are not deserved, they're not earned.
God saves what? Sinners. And what do sinners
deserve? Well, the wages of sin is death. That's what we've earned. That's
why they call it wages, Romans 6 and verse 20. The wages of sin is death. You say, well, but I'm not as
great a sinner as some people. That doesn't matter now. That doesn't matter. How many
sins does it take to earn death? Well, you can go from Genesis
to Revelation and I know it was one sin of Adam that brought
the whole world into condemnation and death in the fall. He disobeyed God. He rebelled
against God. That's what he did. And what
did God tell him? He says, in the day that you
eat thereof, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in
the day that you eat thereof, you shall what? Surely die. You've
earned death in that day that you do that. The Bible says all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's you
and me. The Bible says in Romans chapter three, turn over Romans
chapter three in just a moment. Now, people today who claim to
be Christian but who believe that salvation is conditioned
on the sinner's works, or the sinner's will, or the sinner's
decision, they really would have to read these verses differently
than they're written. And I'll show you what I mean.
Look at verse 10. It says in Romans 3, 10, as it
is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none, now
that doesn't mean there's none religious. It means there's none
who have a righteousness that equals the demands of what God
requires. And in order to have Christian
obedience, I've got to have a righteousness. I don't have it by nature and
I can't earn it, I can't work it out. Well, why is that? Verse
11, there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after
God. Now, if you believe salvation is conditioned on you, what you
do, what you don't do, or what you decide to do, make a decision
for Jesus, they say. Well, we do make decisions. We
make decisions every day. But is that what saves me? That's
what I'm asking. Well, if you believe that your
salvation is conditioned on what you do or what you decide, here's
the way you need to read this verse. You'd have to say, there's
none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God except
me. That's the way you need to read
it. Because that's what you're saying. Because I did seek God. I know what he means by that.
He's talking about man by nature left to ourselves. We would not
see God. He goes on in verse 12. He says,
they're all gone out of the way. You'd have to say, except me.
He says, they're together become unprofitable. You'd have to say,
except me. There's none that do with good,
no, not one. You'd have to say, except me. That's not talking
about me. Well, I'm gonna tell you something.
That is talking about me. That's me on my own. That's me of my
own free will, right there. That's the decision I make. What
is the foundation, the therefore, therefore? Let me give you a
scripture that illustrates it. Turn to Matthew chapter seven.
Matthew chapter seven. This is the Sermon on the Mount,
the end of it. In Matthew chapter seven. Here's what I'm saying. Christian
obedience cannot be founded upon anything but the sovereign grace
and mercy of God in the salvation of a sinner through Christ, based
upon what Christ accomplished in his obedience unto death.
That's the foundation of it right there. The foundation of Christian
obedience is not what I do for God, but what he did for me in
Christ. And that's the difference between
real Christianity, real salvation by grace, and all other religions. Study it. I have. Every religion,
you know what it does? It comes down all the way back
to the very beginning, just like Cain and Abel. What was Cain
doing when he came to worship God and to be accepted with God?
He brought the works of his hands. He thought that's what made him
acceptable, what made him righteous before God. What did Abel do?
He brought the blood of a lamb, which typified and pictured the
blood of the lamb, Christ. But look here in Matthew chapter
seven, look at verse 21. Now listen to what he says here.
He says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
father, which is in heaven. Now doing the will of the father,
that's the revealed will of God, that's obedience. That's Christian
obedience. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached
in thy name? Now in preaching in his name,
an act of Christian obedience, It is. He says, and in thy name
have cast out devils. You remember our Lord cast out
demons. The apostles cast out demons. In casting out demons
in the name of the Lord, isn't that an act of Christian obedience?
Yes, it is. He says, and in thy name have
done many wonderful works. They don't specify what the wonderful
works are, but notice who calls them wonderful. They do. But
listen to the Lord's response. He says in verse 23, and then
will I profess unto them I never knew you, that word no there
is not an awareness of. He's not saying I was never aware
of you. He's saying I never knew you intimately, that is in salvation,
as a savior, as a Lord. He said depart from me ye that
work what? Iniquity. Now they thought that
was obedience. We preached in your name, we
cast out demons, we did many wonderful works. They said that's
obedience. He said it's iniquity. I explained
this in the Sunday school a while ago. This word iniquity, it comes
from the word equity. And it has to do with things
equaling out, balancing out. For example, when I use the analogy
of a paycheck, I'm sure every one of you who work for an employer,
you believe sincerely and strongly that your paycheck should equal
the value of the work and time that you put into it. It ought
to equal out. You may not think it does, but
you think it ought to, right? It ought to balance out. And
that's the problem. When it comes to what God requires
for salvation, What God requires for me, a sinner, to be made
righteous in His sight, when it comes to what God requires
of any of us to be saved, to be blessed, and to have right
and title to enter into glory and receive the reward of grace,
nothing we do, now or forever, will ever balance out what God
requires. It won't do it. So you think
about this. When you come before God and
you stand before God at the judgment and he says, well, what reason
should I let you into glory? What are you going to say? Well,
I preached in your name. Now I've done that. I preached in
his name for 30 years now. Is that my righteousness before
God? Is that my right and title to
enter into glory? Cast out devils, done many wonderful
work. You see, what was the problem
with these fellas here? They were pleading their obedience
as their righteousness before God. This ought to balance out. This ought to make it right.
And he says, oh no, it's unequal. It's iniquity. It doesn't measure
up to the standard. What's the standard? Well, we
read it in Romans chapter 10, the righteousness of God, which
can only be found in one place. Christ and him crucified and
risen again. That's why Paul cried in Philippians
chapter three, oh, that I may know him and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. But here's the problem. Now he shows us what the problem
is. Look at verse 24 of Matthew 7. He says, therefore, whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, sometimes that word here, there's
translated obey. So we're talking about Christian
obedience here. Therefore, whosoever heareth those sayings of mine
and doeth them, that's obedience, I will liken or compare him unto
a wise man which built his house up on a rock. There's the foundation. What
was the problem with these who worked iniquity? They didn't
have the right foundation. That's the problem, founded upon
a rock. And he says, and the rain descended
and the floods came and the house and the winds blew and beat upon
that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock. And then look at verse 26. He
says, everyone that here at these signs of mine and do with them
not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand. And the rain descended and the
floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and
it fell and great was the fall of it. What's the problem? It was built upon sand. Didn't
have the right foundation. Here's what I'm saying. Christian
obedience is founded upon the rock. Now what is that rock? That rock is not your faith.
That rock is not your sincerity. That rock is not your church
membership. It's not a decision that you
made for Jesus. It's not your baptism. That rock
is Christ. He told Peter and the disciples
in Matthew 16, he said, upon this rock, I will build my church. The rock there is not Peter.
In fact, he uses two different words for rock. When he talks
about Peter, thou art a rock, that's a little rock, like a
pebble. He said, but upon this foundation,
I will build my church. Upon this rock, that's like a
big rock of Gibraltar, bigger than Peter, much bigger. It's God in human flesh. It's
the Lamb of God. He's talking about himself and
his finished work. You see, Christian obedience
is founded upon Christ and him crucified and risen again. Christian
obedience. is not the obedience that a sinner
does to try to make himself righteous before God and be accepted. It's obedience that's founded
upon the fact that Christ has already finished that work. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe. It's
founded upon salvation already having been accomplished by the
obedience unto death of the Savior. One old preacher said this one
time, he said, most religion wants to end up where true Christianity
starts out. Yeah, just for example, I'll
give you the idea. What is a saint in your mind? Well, a saint is
somebody who lives a dedicated, moral, zealous Christian life,
performs so many miracles, and then he finally makes it. The
sainthood. No. In the Bible, a saint, you
know what a saint is in the Bible? Let me give you another term
for it. A sinner saved by the grace of God is a saint. You know what the word saint
means? It means sanctified one. What sanctified means? It means
holy. What's holy means? It means set apart. Those who
were set apart before the foundation of the world in electing grace,
who were justified in Christ and redeemed by his blood, set
apart by him, and then called by the Holy Spirit in the new
birth. We begin the Christian life as full-fledged saints equally
in Christ. And that's the foundation of
all obedience. We're not obeying trying to be saved. We're obeying
because we've already been saved. So that brings me to the second
point. Now look over at Romans 12. See, we're built upon the
rock, Christ Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
And listen, that's the only way it's gonna balance out. You have
Christ on one side, Christ on the other, Christ as the foundation.
That's the only way it's gonna balance out. Look back at Romans
chapter 12 now. Now that's the therefore. I beseech
you, therefore. If you don't believe me, read
the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, there it is.
All right, here's the second one, motivated by. Motivated
by. What's the inspiration? What
inspires Christian obedience? What energizes it? Well, he says
it here in verse one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God. There's the inspiration. It's
mercy. My friend, if God has been merciful
and gracious, what is the motivation? Somebody said one time that we're
motivated by three things, grace, gratitude, and love. In other words, it's not a motivation
of legalism. trying to work our way into God's
favor, thinking that if we don't work hard enough, God's going
to cast us into hell. It's not a mercenary motivation. We're not hirelings just serving
God, trying to get what we want out of Him or what we can earn.
That's why this common today, this reward system in religion,
well, I'm not working to be saved, but I'm just working to earn
my rewards in heaven. You're not a servant of God.
You're not a child of God. You're a mercenary. In other words, your incentive,
your motivation is what you can earn. You can't earn anything
from God. If you earn it from God, it's not of grace. Romans
chapter 4 teaches that. It's not of grace, it's of debt. Think about it. The Bible says,
in Exodus chapter 25, it uses the example of a bond slave.
You know what a bond slave was back then under the Old Covenant?
Well, if a person got in debt to another person and couldn't
pay their debt, then they were obligated under the law to serve
that person in order to pay their debt. And they had to serve for
at least seven years, I think. At the end of that service, the
law could hold them no more and they could go free. But at times
there was a servant who got in debt, served his seven years,
and because of the loving, fair, and gracious treatment of his
master, and because he loved his master, at the end of the
seven years when the law said to go free, he didn't want to
go free. He wanted to stay and serve his master. Not because
he had to. Not because he owed a debt to
the law. but because he loved his master. That's what the law of bond slave,
and that's what Paul called himself. He called himself a bond slave
of Christ. I'm not serving Christ because
I'm trying to pay a debt or trying to earn my keep. I'm serving
him because he's already given me everything I need and more
for my keep, and he's already paid the debt by the price of
his blood on Calvary. That's the motivation, Paul said,
the love of Christ constrains me and motivates me. Look over at Romans chapter seven,
let me show you this. This goes back to the foundation
and the motivation here, Romans seven and verse four. What motivates you, what drives
you, you see, to obey, to avoid and fight sin? That's a lifelong
battle, even for a Christian, isn't it? to avoid sin and fight
sin, to obey. Look here, he says in verse four,
now listen to this, he says, wherefore my brethren, you are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now here's two
things you need to know about that verse. What is it to be
dead to the law? It means this, it means the law
cannot condemn you for sin. It means God no longer holds
you accountable legally for sin. It means somebody has already
paid the penalty of your sins in full. Now, how did that come
about? Well, because you accepted Jesus
as your personal savior? No. How'd you become dead to
the law? Brethren now, he's talking to
brethren, talking to the believers here now. He says, by the body
of Christ. That's how I became dead to the
law. When Christ died on the cross, he died unto sin, the
scripture says. Who sinned? My sins charged to
him. He was made sin. He became guilty
because of my sin legally accounted to him. And he died, he suffered,
he bled, he died. And you know what he did? He
drank damnation dry. He suffered the full penalty
of all the sins of what he calls his sheep. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. And that's how it happened. Now,
why did all that happen? He says, in order that you should
be married to another, united to Christ, even him who's raised
from the dead, that we should bring forth what? Fruit under
God. You see, the obedience of a believer
is not the cause of salvation, it's the fruit of salvation.
Where's the life? You know, if you have an apple
tree and it doesn't bear apples, what's wrong? There's no life
there. If you have a Christian saved by the grace of God, there's
gonna be fruit there because of life. Who is that life? Christ. Who put that life there? Christ.
He is our life. And so he says in verse five,
now listen, for when we were in the flesh, that's an unbeliever.
In the flesh means to be an unbeliever. The motions or passions of sins
which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth
fruit unto death. He's talking about a person there
who's in unbelief bringing forth fruit unto death. And he says
the passions of sins which were by the law, there's two ways
you can look at that. You can look at an unbeliever who is
totally rebellious against any law whatsoever, somebody who's
just an out and out rebel, or you can look at it like Saul
of Tarsus who was a religious man trying to work his way into
heaven. Both of them were the passions
of sins, which were by the law. And what were they doing? Bringing
forth fruit, but unto death. Because the foundation wasn't
laid. And he says in their hearts,
and he says in verse six, look here, but now we're delivered
from the law, that legalism, that works salvation that we're
so proud of and so intent on. That being dead wherein we were
held, That's the bondage of the law, that we should serve in
newness of spirit. What is that newness of spirit?
That's the bond slave. That's serving motivated by grace
and gratitude. Thank you, Lord, and love. And
not in oldness of the letter, not in legalism. I often use
the example when we talk about amputation and things of that
sort, of a person who does owe a debt. And I think it's a good
example, especially for our children, to understand the fundamentals
of the gospel. If you owed a debt to a local
bank, say a million dollars, and you didn't have one penny
to pay that debt, and you say, well, I'm just going to go cast
myself on the mercy of the bank, which you and I both know wouldn't
do any good, but you go into that banker and you say, I know
I owe this debt, but I can't pay one penny. What can I do? The banker says, well, if you
don't have one penny to pay it, you can't pay it. You just have
to go to jail. He says, wait a minute, let's
check the books. And he opens up the books and he sees your
name, and right across from your name, it says paid. Now, can
you think of the inner bondage that you were in on your way
to the bank? How you felt? But when you heard
that word paid, Can you think of the burden that was lifted
off your soul when you heard that word paid in full? The banker
says, you don't owe a million dollars to this bank. That debt's
paid in full. And you go, boy, I tell you,
what relief. And then the banker looks up
and he says, hold on. He says, wait a minute, there's some more
here. Not only is your debt paid in full, somebody put a million
dollars in here to the good. Think about the joy that you
feel now. First thing you're going to know
is what? Who did that for me? Now in spiritual life and salvation,
the gospel gives you the answer. Jesus Christ on the cross of
Calvary. Oh, I want to go thank him. Well, I really don't believe
he did all that. I better do something to help, you know,
to earn that." I said, no. I'm going to go thank him. Oh,
I love him. You see the difference? That's Christian obedience. And
then lastly, he said, aim towards. Here's the aspiration. What is
the goal of Christian obedience? It's not to earn my salvation. It's not to earn my rewards.
I'll tell you simply what it is quickly. It's to glorify God. Look back at Romans 12. He says,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies, your whole persons, living sacrifices, totally
sold out to Christ, holy and acceptable unto God, not in order
to make yourself holy and acceptable, but because you are. in Christ,
which is your reasonable service, be not conformed to the world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, you do that in
the scriptures, by the power of the spirit, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect or complete will
of God. What he's saying here is this,
your goal in Christian obedience is to be living proof of the
sovereign mercy and grace of God in Christ. to glorify him,
not to exalt yourself, not to draw attention to yourself, not
to make yourself acceptable, but to give glory to the God
of all grace who saved you and blessed you through the blood
and righteousness of his son. Living proof, living examples
of I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. And even right
now, As many years as I've known the gospel, preached the gospel,
I still don't deserve salvation and I still have not earned it.
What reward, the Bible doesn't speak of rewards plural, by the
way, read it. It speaks of one reward, singular. Whatever reward I get in heaven,
it's not what I've earned by preaching one message, let alone
30 years worth, but it's what God gives me through Christ. It's what he earned for me. And
my goal is to glorify Him, to draw attention. John the Baptist
said it real well. He said, I must decrease, He,
Christ, must increase. All right.